Rolling-mill or similar installation.



W. R. WEBSTER. ROLLING MILL 0R SIMILAR INSTALLATION.

APPLIGATIoN-HLED MAR.1 1,1913.

1,109,885, Patented Sept.8, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

VITNESSES: [.VVENTOR.' 7% M WCW M@ f?. 06ML BY l ATTORNEY.

W. R. WEBSTER.

ROLLING MILL 0R SIMILAR INSTALLATION. APPLIOATION FILED MAB11,1913.

1,109,885. Patented sept.8,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIT/M5555. l

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A TTRNEY.

- sums-PATENT oFFIoE.

WILLIAM n. WEBSTER, 0E annoncen-CONNECTICUT, .AssIGNoE 'ro ERIDGEPOETBRASS COMPANY, 0F NECTICUT.

Specicati'lm of Letterslatet. YApplica'ci'o'xi'illerljllfsusch 11, 1918.Serial No. 753,622. l

BRIDGEPOBT, CONNECTICUT, A VC0II.POII5A'.I.IOI\T 0F CON-- BOIiLING-MILBORSIMILAR INSTALLATION. 1l y Patented sep-1;."` s, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

a citizen of the United States, residingin, Bridgeport, county ofFairfield, and `Statey of Connecticut, have invented certain new.`l anduseful Improvements in Rolling-Millorl Similar Installations, of whichvthe follow# ing is 'a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates tometal working: devices for operating on strips,bars, wires.' or other lengths of stock. The improve-, ments areespecially intended for application to metal Working devices arrangedinj tandem for simultaneous operation upon suc cessive portions of alength of'stoc'k 'fed from one of suchdevices to another of the;

` same, but certain featuresof the inventionl speed of one mill, (dueJtolexternal causes or to hard 4spots in the metal or expansion oEl therolls)` will be compensated for by varia-,

maybe used to advantage in other connec. tionst -I shall describe 'theinvention as applied toa rolling mill installation but it will beapparent that in the broader aspects of the, invention, the character ofthe metal -worklf ing device or devices -and ofthe stock oper-i ated onthereby may be considerably varied. The cold rolling of flexible metalAstri shas: heretofore generally been connedf'to t e use"t of.. onerolling mill through which the strip is passed to reduce its thickness,A'and from; which the strip passes directly 'to the wind-; ing drum.There have recently been some`- attemptsto roll these strips by passingthemf through two or vmore individually driven'i 'sets of rolls placedin 'tandem with each;

other, but this'tandem 'rolling 'has been unsatisfactory owing to theimpossibility of' properly controlling 'the speeds Aof the re-` spectivemills. 'In this method of rolling it mills in such a lnanner thatvariations of,

tions 'o' speed of theo'ther mill^or mills. Where the speed of themillsAis regulated by'y the operative by means of l manual control-v lingdevioes associated with the prime movers of the respective mills, it ispracticallyA impossible to meet the condition, and as a re- 5 sult, thedistribution of the work of reduc# tion between the mills is veryuneven, the tension of the stock passing 'from one mill i to anotherfiuctuateslconsiderably, and the Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. WEBSTER,

invention, therefore, is to provide improved One of the primary objectsof the present I means for regulating automatically the rely.

ative speeds of'two or more rolling mills or g other Zmetal workingdevices 'arranged' in tandem so as to maintain a practically unirmtension in the stock betweenl the mills.

ore

stallation in which one of the rolling mills -or other `metal workingydevices is movable toward and away from the other by varia-l tions inthe tension of the stock, and wherein this movement is utilized tocontrol automatically the speed of a prime mover which drives one of themills. Itis also proposed to furnish a metal worln'ng device which isbodily movable on its foundation and so arranged with respect to a speedcontrolling device .for a prime mover, that the speed of said primemover will be varied in accordance with the tension of the stock actedon by said metal working device.

To these and other ends, the invention' consists in the `novel featuresand combina tions of parts to be 4hereinafter described and claimed. Inothe accompanying drawings, Figure l -installation embodying mylinvention, Fig.2 is a similar view showing the mova'ble in anotherposition, Fig. 3 is atopplan view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is an end v1ewof Fig. 1. A Y

The rolling mill installation shown in the drawings, comprises a mill Aand a mill B, individually driven and arranged tandem for simultaneousoperation upon a `length of stock C such as a strip of brass or ot ermetal.v The strip to be reduced passes fr m a holder D to the mill A,thence to the mill B and finally-to a Winder E. The mill A comprises astand 5 having the usual rolls articularly, I aim to provide an in? is adiagrammatic side elevation of a rolling 6, 7 operated byanelectricimotor 8 through B. lThe roll stand 9 of the mill B is iiXed ona foundation F, but the roll stand of.,

lent is not a material feature of the inven- .is equipped 'with wheels15 and the track 14 is constituted by Aparallel rails for said wheels. e

The movable mill A is acted on'by means urging itaway from the mill Band tending to hold the platform 13 against stops 16. rllhis means maycomprise a fluid pressure device H fixed on the foundation F andconstituted by a cylinder 17 and a piston 18 which is subjected to theforce of a pressure medium entering the cylinderv 17 by way of an inletpipe 19. The piston 18 is rigidly connected with the platform 13 bymeans of the iston rod 20, and the mill A is con stant y urged towardthe stops 16 by constant connection ofthe pressure cylinder 17 with asuitable source of pressure medium. The' stops 16, limit the movement ofthejmill A away from the mill B and similar stops 21 limit the movementof the mill-A toward the mill B.

The motor 8 of the mill A has associated with it a rheostat 22 wherebythe speed fof the motor is controlled. The rheostat 22 may beconveniently located on the foundation G alongside the track 14. Itisoperated by a controller handle 23 having a.

fixed pivot 24 and coperating with the rheostat in the usual manner. Theupper free endof the controller handle 23 is pivoted at 25 to one end'of a link 26, theV opposite end of which is pivoted at 27 to a part ofthe mill A, such as one of the side frames of the Vroll stand 5. f

The operation ofthe installation is suhstantiyally as follows: The striof metal to be reduced is assed from t e holder D through therol s 6 and7 of the mill A and thence through the rolls 10 and 11 of the mill B.When the mills-have been started the mill A will normally have apositionabout midway of the length of its track or guideway inwhich'positlon the ortion of the stock between said mill and t e mill Blwill be subjected to just the lright amount of tension for the eiiicientoperation of they ations) the forcey exerted by the device H.

on the mill A will be overcome and the ten-v incassa sion ot the stockwill be sufficient to pull the mill A toward the mill B. ln doing thisthe controller'handle 23 'of the rheostat 22 will be swung'on its pivotin an obvious manner, and the arrangement is such that this movement ofthe .controller handle will act to speed up the motor 8. Hence the millA will feed in the metal faster than before, and this will eliminate atonce the undue tension in the stock, such tension being decreased untilit equals that of the balancing means H. On the other hand, if thetension in the stock decreases below the pushing effect of the balancingmeans H, the latter will act to move the mill A farther away from themill B. A movementof the mill A in this last named direction willobviously move the controller handle 23 in a direction ,opposite tothatl first mentioned and as a consequence the speedeof the motor 8 willbe decreased until the equilibrium between the pressure of the balancingmeans and ,the tension of the stock is again restored.

ltv will therefore beunderstood that both increases and decreases oftension in the stock between `the mills, above and below respectivelythe normal, are 'quickly eliminated in A an automatic manner so thatforall practical vpurposes a ,constant tenslon in the intermediate portionof the stock is automatically maintained. A

-As soon as av length-of stock leaves thev mill A the device H will movesaid mill against the stops 16 and the mill will oper:`

ate at a greatlyv reduced speed as long as it is idle.- As soon as a newlength of stock is 'fed into the mill A and thence into the mill IB, therelative speeds of the two sets of rolls is such that the mill B willrapidly crease the tension of the stock between the .mills and equalizeit with the power of the balancing meansH, which will occur when themill A reaches Aa position about midway of the'track 14.

Of course, the character of prime mover` employed and the speedcontrolling device therefore is immaterlal so far as the general.principles of the invention are concerned. Moreover,` it is notessential to employ a viiuid pressure device for vbalancing the mov-yable mill, nor to support the latter by means of -wheels or rollers, Inthe form shown,

Sboth devices -A andB'reduc'e as well as support the stock, but thereducing function of either A or'B may be omitted in some cases.

IMany modifications in these and other respects maybe .adopted withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention as delined in the claims. l

What I claim is:

1. The combination of` a metal working device adapted to act on a lengthof stock, a device spaced from said metal working device and supportinthe stock acted on by the latter, one of sa1d devices being movabletoward and away from the other, a prime mover'for driving one of saiddevices, and a speed adjusting means for said prime mover controlledautomatically by the bodily movements of said movable device;substantially as described. j

2. The combination of a metal working" device adapted to act on a lengthvof stock, a device spaced from said metal working device and supportingthe stock acted on bythe latter, a track on which one of said devices ismovable toward and away from the other, a prime mover for driving oneofsaid devices, and a speed adjusting means for said prime movercontrolled automatically by the bodily movements of said mov- Y abledevice; substantially as described.

device adapted to act on a length of stock, a device spaced from saidmetal working device and supporting the stock acted on; by the latter, atrack on which one of said devices is movable toward' and away from theother, separate prime movers for the= -respective devices, and speedadjusting means for one of said prime movers controlled automatically bythe bodily movemen-ts Iof said movable device; substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination of' a metal working 1 device adapted to act onfalength of stock,

, a device spaced from said metal working device and supporting thestock acted on; b thev latter, one of said devices being movabile towardand away from the other, bala ancing means acting on the movable device,a prime mover for driving one of said devices, and speed adjusting meansfor said.-

Prime 'mover operatively Connected with* means spaced from said deviceto support` said movable device; substantially as Y de" scribed.

5. The combination of a power drivenl metal working device adapted toact on a'f length of stock, a power driven device spaced from said`metal working device and supporting the stock acted on by the latter,one of said devices being movable toward andi away from the other,andmeans for varying the working speed of one of said devices in econsonance with the bodily movements ofi said movable device;substantially as' de-i scribed.

6. The combination of' a power driven' metal working device adapted toactl on al length of stock, a power driven device spaced from said metalworking device and supporting the stock'acted on by the latter,A one ofsaiddevices being movable Irelatively to the other, and means todecrease the working-.speed of one of said devices asl the distancebetween. said devices is in' 'creased andto increase such speed as thedecreased device and supporting the stock acted 011A by the latter, oneof said devices 'being movable toward and away from the other,

balancing means acting on the movable de vice, a prime mover for one ofsaid devices, and means for increasing the speed of said pri-me mover asthe distance between said devices is decreased and vice versa;substantially as described.

8. The combination ova Vmetal working device. adapted to act on a lengthof stock, a device spaced from said metal working device and supportingthe stock emerging from the latter, a track on which one of said ildevices is movable toward and away from 3. The comblnatlon of a metalworkingsl the other, balancing means acting on `'the movable device,separate prime movers for the respective' devices', and speed adjustingmeans for one of said Iprime moverswhich speeds up said' ime moverautomatically as the distance etween said devices is decreased and slowsdown said prime mover -as the distance between said devices isincreased.; substantially as described.'

9. The combination with asuitable foundation, 'of a bodily movable powerdriven metal working device mountedi thereon and adapted to operate on alength of stock,

and .means to vary the working speedof said device automatically as thesame moves relatively to said foundation; substantially as described. lY.

10.I The combination with a suitable foundation, of a bodily movablepower driven metal working device mounted thereon and adapted to operateon a length of stock,

the stock acted on by the latter, and means to vary the working speed'ofsaid device automatically as the-same moves relatively =to saidfoundation; substantially as deiis fa 'lengthof stock, and means to varythe' working speed of said device automatically 'as the same moves alongsaid track; substantially as described. j

12. The combination of metal working devices arranged in tandem, one ofsaid devices being movable toward and away from the other, and means forautomatically varying the working speed of one of said devices inconsonance with the bodily movements of said movable device;substantially as described.

13. The combination of metal working devices' arranged in tandem, one ofsaid deitc vices being movable toward and vaway from the other, separateprime movers for the respective devices, and speed adjusting means oroneof' said prime movers controlled automatically as the tension inthestock between said devices is varied; substantially as described.

14:. The combination of metal working devices arranged inv tandem toIact simultaneously on successive. portions of an advancing length ofstock, one of said devices being bodily movable toward and away from theother,J primemovers for the respective devices, and a speed adjusting'means for one of said prime movers actuated automatically to increasethe speed as said movable device approaches the other device and todecrease the speed as said movable device moves in the oppositedirection; substantially as described.

l5. The combination of metal working devices 4arranged in tandem forsimultaneous operation on successive portions of an j advancing lengthof stock fedl Irom one of' said devices to the other, the device whichrst receives the stock being movable toward and away from the seconddevice, prime movers for the respective devices, and speed adjustingmeans for the prime mover of the first device actuated automatically toincrease the speed ofysaid prime mover as said first -device movestoward the secondv and todecrease the speed as said rst device movesaway from the second; substantially as described.

16. The combination of metal working devices arranged -n tandem, primemovers for the respective devices, a track on which one of said devicesismovable toward and away from the other, means normally holding saidmovable device in a definite position lengthwise lof said track, andspeed adjusting means for onev of said prime movers .controlledautomatically byi the :bodily movement of said movable device lengthwiseof said track; substantiallyy asl described.

17. The combination of .rolling mills arranged in tandem, one of saidmills being movablev toward and away from the other,

andmeans for automatically varying the rolling s eed of one .of saidmills in consonance vwith the bodily movement of said movable mill;substantially as described.

'18. The combination of Irolling mills arranged in tandem, one of saidmills being movable toward and away :from the other,

separate prime movers for the respective mills, and speedadjusting meansfor one of `said prime movers controlled automatically as the tensioninthe stock between the mills j is varied; substantiallyas described.

incassa' `rately, and speed adjusting means for one of .said primemovers controlled automatically 'by the bodily movements of said rstmill; substantially as described.

l 20. The combination of rolling mills arranged in tandem, the firstmill being movable bodily toward and 'awayy from the second, primemovers for driving the respective ,mills separately, and means forvarying automatically the speed of the prime mover of said first millasthe latter changes its position relatively to the second mill;substantially as described.

ranged in tandem, one of said mills being balancing means acting on themovable mill,

prime movers, and an operative connection etween sald speed. regulatingdevice and 22. The combination of a metal working device, a track onwhich said device is bodily movable, a prime mover for driving saiddevice, a speed regulating device for said yprime mover, and aconnection between said speed regulating device and said metal work-:said track, 'balancing means acting on sald for said prime mover, andmeans to adjust saidspeed regulating device automatically as said millmovesl to and fro on said track; fsubstantially -as described.

i' 25. The combination of rolling millsarranged in tandem, one 'of saidmills being imoyable toward yand away from the other, gan electricmotorfor driving one of said mills, a rheostat for controlling the speedof ljtvveen said rheostat and said movable mill .whereby vthe speed'ofsaid prime mover is ,increased as the movable mill-approaches the'xedmill; substantially as described.

4mill gmovable bodily on said track, an elec- `Qtric motor fordriving'said mill, a `rheostat for said motor, and means for operatingSaid 2l. The combination of rolling mills ar-V bodily movable toward andaway from the other, prime movers for the respective mil-ls;

a speed regulating device for4A one of said,

said movable mill; substantially as described..

24. The combination of a foundation hav-y ing a'track, a Yrolling millbodily movable on @mill to hold it normally in a definite positionv Ylengthwise ofthe track, a prime mover fork. `driving said mill, a speedregulating device4 'said motor, and an operative connection be L v26.The combination of a track, a rolling rheostat ,automatically as themill moves 'alongthe track; substantially as described.

27. The combinationI of a track, a platform movable along said track, -ametal -ranged in tandem, a platform on which one working device on saidplatform, an electric motor for said device llkewlsey mounted on saidplatform, a rheostat for said motor fixed relatively to said track, andoerative metal means. of connection between sai Working device and saidrheostat;I substantially as described.

28. The combination of rolling mills arof said mills is supported, atrack on which for t e movable mill, carried by said platform, andmeans' 'to increase the speed of 15 said' motor automatically as themovable mill approaches the fixed mill; substantially as described. l

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on theth day of March,1918.

WILLIAM R. WEBSTER. Witnesses:

M. C. REED, F. SMITH.

said platform is movable, an Yelectric motor

